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Annual Veselica concert will showcase dances from around the world

By Margaret Wade '08
April 7, 2008

The St. Olaf College Dance Department will present its annual Veselica Spring Concert April 11-13, featuring dances from the Czech Republic, England, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Scotland, Uzbekistan and the Transylvanian region of Romania.

The performances will take place Friday, April 11 and Saturday, April 12 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 13 at 2:30 p.m. in Dittmann Center's Wagner-Bundgaard Studio. The event is free and open to the public.

Veselica is a student dance company with a global perspective that strives to spread awareness of dance forms from around the world. Veselica (pronounced veh-SELL-eetsah) translates as "celebration" in Serbo-Croatian. Artistic Director Anne von Bibra founded the international dance ensemble in the late 1980s. "I chose [the name Veselica] with the idea of celebrating the dance traditions of many different cultures," she says.

This year the number of men and women in the company is almost balanced, which provides more opportunities for couple dancing. Von Bibra created a suite of dances from the Fagaras district in the Transylvanian region of Romania, which includes men's, women's and couple dances from the folk tradition near the city of Brasov. "I enjoy working with the students in Veselica and sharing more challenging material with them that I don't get to in the technique classes. We're also able to work more on styling and refining than in an introductory survey class," von Bibra says.

The program includes a suite of dances from western Bohemia that the company learned last fall with guest choreographer Alice Janotova from Prague. The program also features two pieces from the repertoire of Minneapolis-based Ethnic Dance Theatre: a duet and a group dance from Costa Rica. Veselica will perform Jochar, the national dance of the Buriyat people of Mongolia, along with Kuda Kuda from the island of Java in Indonesia, a solo by Mitch Ebert '09.

In the British Isles suite, Emily Schmitz '10 will perform a solo Scottish Sword Dance that was traditionally performed with crossed swords before battle. "In Scottish Highland dance tradition, if the dancer touched one of the crossed swords, it was considered bad luck," Schmitz said. "In today's world of competitive Highland dancing, a displaced sword means disqualification from the dance by the judge."

The performance will also include several guest performers, including Christy Mooers '08 playing fiddle tunes from the British Isles. In a suite of Indian dances showcasing a variety of genres, First Year Project members will perform a folk form called Garba. Veselica alum Ananya Mukhopadhyay '09 will join in dancing Mahi Ve, a Bollywood-inspired piece she reset on Veselica.

The concert is free and open to the public and no tickets are required. For more information, contact von Bibra at 507-786-3663 or vonbibra@stolaf.edu.

Contact Kari VanDerVeen at 507-786-3970 or vanderve@stolaf.edu.